Home Is Where The Heart Is
by Dark Universe
Summary: Someone once said that everything will be alright in the end, and if everything is not alright, then it is not the end. But what if the end is not what we dreamed of? What if it became something we fear the most...a nightmare? Disclaimer: I shall say this only once: I do not own Naruto. OCs included.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_Pain...is everywhere. My sight is blurry and black spots dance before my eyes. The shouts of my friends and comrades seem muffled and so, so far away. All I can hear is the stutter of my rapidly dying heart. It's becoming harder to breathe by the second. I taste the coppery flavor of blood as it pools in mouth, choking me, before spilling out of my mouth and rolling down my chin. My chest is burning with excruciating, white-hot pain. I look down, choking on a gasp. My eyes widen as realization finally strikes me. Tears immediately start flowing down my cheeks._

_It's over. After all the struggles, and hardships, and difficult decisions, it ends like this. But the pain in my chest is nothing compared to the pain of knowing it's the end. I'll never enjoy a happy moment with my friends again, I'll never get to fight for my beliefs, or to protect my home and family, or share my knowledge and skills with the younger generations. I will never win in a friendly race again, or be challenged to an eating contest, or plan and execute a prank, or be forced to endure 'girl talk'. I won't get to joke around and bicker with the ones I consider brothers, or listen to lighthearted 'lectures', or tease the most conceited jerks of the lot, or irritate my sister's boyfriend. I will never get to laugh with my best friend or listen to her rant about her day. All of my friends…I will never get to spend time with them again._

_But the most painful thought of all…is that I won't ever see _him_ again. I'll never see his rare soft smiles, or feel his gentle caresses, or exchange friendly blows with him. I'll never get to tease him, or receive his caring looks. I don't try to stop a sad smile that spreads over my bloodied and dirty face as I remember all the wonderful time I've had with him that now seems far too short. My only regret is never telling him that I love him._

_I'm snapped out of my memories by a sharp, burning pain in my chest. I can no longer breathe and I'm choking on my own blood. The metallic taste of the thick red liquid makes me lightheaded. My body shudders as I cough up blood, while every part of me is screaming in pain and exhaustion. I look up at my attacker and a smirk forms on my lips despite my predicament. I gather all my remaining strength and grab onto his arm tightly, restraining him, hopefully for just long enough._

"_Wh-what are y-you wa-waiting...for? K-Kill h-him." The words are harder to spit out than I imagined and I'm immediately assaulted with violent coughs, but I'd thankfully gotten through to my shocked team mates. They quickly snap into action._

_The source of my suffering is suddenly ripped out of my chest and my battered body jerks with it. The black spots dancing in my vision explode along with the pain and darkness completely takes me. My racing heart is pounding in my ears frantically as my throat closes up entirely, preventing any oxygen from flowing. My legs give out and my entire body feels like lead as I descend to the hard ground of the battlefield. Through the steadily spreading numbness I feel soft arms catch me before I can make impact with the ground. I'm lowered carefully on my back and I know that my friends are trying to be as gentle as possible but _everything_ hurts – every jar, every touch, every movement sends a fiery sensation through my body. I can no longer see anything, so I close my eyes. I can't breathe, my throat is tight and my already burning lungs are desperately screaming for precious air._

_As if through a tunnel, I can hear screams and shouts all around me. The ground shakes slightly underneath me and I feel a wave of cool, soothing energy wash over me, before numbness finally swallows me entirely. All sounds fade, leaving only one – the stuttering beats of my heart. The rhythm has slowed drastically compared to its usual beating. I count the beats which I know will be my last. One…two…three…Everything starts fading and I know – this is it. And through the last bits of consciousness I make out three words, gentle whispers that echo through my mind even as my heart gives out the last beat, the words I will cherish in my death…_

I love you.


	2. Who Said It Was Just Another Day?

**A/N: **I completely forgot to add an author's note in the prologue…oops, my bad. Well, I didn't really have much to say except – I hope you like it and enjoy (which goes the same in this case)!

This chapter has come a long way since I first wrote it (if anyone's curious, that was three years ago, when the idea first sparked). I don't love it myself, but I'm definitely proud of how it turned out compared to the original version. I still shudder at the thought.

Now before I let you all read at peace, I want to thank **Horizon Gus Watson**, **Novrier**, **Rosebunse** and **Lover of Emotions** for all the reviews, favorites and alerts. It means a lot. I know everyone says that, but it's true. Now, I hope I didn't disappoint and that you'll like it.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Who Said It Was Just Another Day?**

**Danny's POV**

"You're late. Again." I was greeted by my glaring friend Dianna before I even had a chance to knock on her front door. Her eyes were narrowed into that dangerous glare she'd mastered so well, but the telltale signs of a growing smirk gave her away. I winked at her, knowing she wasn't really mad at me; after all, she was used to my constant tardiness by now.

"Why, hello to you too, my dear friend!" I greeted her cheerfully as I entered her house and, too impatient to wait for an official invite, headed straight for the kitchen. I heard Dianna chuckle behind me before following my lead. "A black cat crossed my path on my way here, so I had to go all the way around." I didn't need to see her roll her eyes at my antics to know she did it.

The second I entered the kitchen I could smell all the wonderful food just waiting to be eaten. Dianna was an incredible cook and everything she made was absolutely delicious – especially her chocolate muffins! I spotted said marvelous muffins on the counter, still steaming hot, and reached out to take one.

"Oh, no you don't," was my only warning before my hand was slapped away with a spoon.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, pouting at the missed opportunity to stuff my face with sweet, sweet sugar. Oh, well. _She'll look away eventually,_ I thought smugly as I took a graceful seat on the counter. "So, am I ever gonna be allowed to eat all this delicious goodness you were so generous to prepare, or are you going to starve me to death first?" I inquired with a large grin plastered on my face.

"Well, with you out of the picture I'll have more for myself, so yeah, I'll just starve you to death first," Dianna answered off-handedly, while putting a bag of popcorn into the microwave. She set the timer and turned back to face me with a teasing smirk on her face.

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Love ya, too," I retorted. "So, what's up? Anything new happen in the fifteen minutes we haven't communicated?"

"Let me think," Dianna said, putting a finger to her chin, pretending to be deep in thought. "Uh, nope, nothing new. Oh! Except that I finally read the latest chapter of the manga!" She exclaimed in triumph.

I giggled, swinging my feet back and forth – I could never sit still for too long. "And? What do you think?"

"Well, for one, I hate Kishimoto for choosing the absolute _best_ moments to end his chapters, and-" she made a dramatic pause, causing me to laugh, "I'm positive Madara, or Tobi…or whatever, is actually Obito!"

"Couldn't agree more, buddy!" I said, bumping my fist with Dianna's. "I mean, I've always had doubts, but now I'm sure!"

"Uh-huh." She shot me a disbelieving glance as she took the finished popcorn out of the microwave and started pouring the delicious snack into a bowl. Meanwhile, I decided to be useful for a change, so I hopped off the counter and helped my best friend prepare the rest of the snacks and all the fizzy drinks.

Once everything was properly arranged I grabbed all the plates, glasses and bowls off the counter and followed Dy out of the kitchen, juggling all the food along the way, hoping I wouldn't trip.

Dianna and I had decided that we would celebrate the end of our freshmen year in high school with a long awaited Naruto weekend. Needless to say, we could barely wait for summer vacation to commence and free us of the slavery. Due to school and all the tedious, time-consuming assignments that go with it, we hadn't really had much time to watch the latest episodes of our all-time favorite anime, so we agreed that a serious catching-up session was required.

We entered her brightly colored bedroom where she'd set up everything for our 'Anime weekend' and placed the snacks on her previously squeaky clean desk. Two armchairs – the exceptionally fluffy kind – were placed in front of her huge computer monitor, with a bunch of brightly colored pillows strewn over them.

I caught sight of Dianna's big, cozy bed and snickered inwardly. "So, did you talk with your mom about the new hairstyle you had in mind?" I inquired casually, inching closer to the object of my immediate desire while she was turned away from me, searching for her Naruto DVDs.

"Yeah. She said that it won't suit me but I still like it a lot," she murmured over her shoulder. I was now only an inch away from throwing myself onto her perfectly near bed and a smirk formed on my lips. _Here I come! _I cheered in my head, getting ready to jump, when a cold shiver ran down my back, stopping me in my tracks.

"Jump, and die." I could feel the dangerous glare burning through my skull as her low, dark voice cut through the air like an arrow. I laughed nervously, backing away slightly. I shot her an apologetic glance, before she turned back to her DVD player. I smirked again, ready to execute my devious plan when I heard a cough right behind me.

"Oh, alright already!" I exclaimed, making my way to the closer armchair, pouting along the way. Once I was lounging comfortably in it, I looked at her long wavy hair. "Why won't she let you though? If you ask me-"

"I didn't."

"-I think red highlights would suit you! They'd give your brown hair a nice shine! Just look at mine. It's almost auburn." I liked my curls, but it always agitated me that my hair was so close to being red, yet still classified as brown. How dull.

She snorted slightly as she placed a DVD into the player, before sitting in the other armchair. "Yeah, Dobe, _almost_. And I know they'd look great, but not all of us have the power to convince our parents to let us do crazy things," she said in a teasing tone and I could feel my ego growing despite the 'insult'.

"What can I say, Teme. I'm just that awesome," I exclaimed proudly, before kicking my feet up and placing them on the table. As I leaned back however, I hit my head on Dy's conveniently placed wardrobe, yelping at the stinging pain. I rubbed the sore spot while my best friend chuckled at my misfortune.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever helps ya sleep at night. Now man up, and get your feet off my table." I stuck my tongue out at her, but obliged. Dy was scary when she was mad. "Now can we get this show on the road?" She inquired, lifting up the remote, her thumb placed over the 'play' button lightly.

I winked, giddy with the growing excitement. "Let's do it, dattebayo!" And with a fist bump, our Naruto weekend officially began.

Three long days, not a second of sleep and enough sugar and fat to feed a whole continent later and Dy and I were beyond exhausted. We hadn't slept a wink, we'd overdosed on sugar more times than we could count and we were about ready to pass out, but we'd successfully watched all the important episodes we'd wanted and renewed all the material. Needless to say, we were extremely proud of ourselves. Of course, our parents weren't all that happy with our unhealthy methods and were even conspiring to ground us – can you believe that? During summer vacation! – but we didn't care. We'd had the best weekend of out lives. And we were ready to sleep for a decade.

Too bad fate had other plans.

As we settled into our respective beds, both still slightly buzzing from all the excitement, most of which was caused by the chocolate-strawberry cake we'd eaten only a few minutes before, we chatted about all the events that unfolded in the anime – old seasons and new. We talked about all the funny situations the characters found themselves in, but we also shared a few silent moments for all the characters that died. Not all of them were bad and they certainly didn't _need_ to die, but Kishimoto could be cruel sometimes.

I was just about to close my eyes, because keeping them open was really starting to be painful, when Dy spoke up again, "Hey Danny, don't you think it would be cool if we could, by some miracle, go to 'Naruto World'?"

I snorted. "Yeah, right." The little energy I had left was spent on those two words and I finally gave in, closing my eyes, but I tried to focus on the sound of Dianna's voice, which proved to be increasingly difficult.

"No, but seriously. Imagine that we could! Wouldn't it be amazing? See all the characters, Hell, _meet_ them! Man, I wish we could meet, well, Naruto…and Shikamaru…and Neji…oh, and Hinata – she's so cute when she blushes around Naruto – and the Uchiha bros, and…"

I couldn't even hear her anymore as I was quickly falling into the land on dreams. My last conscious, albeit quite ridiculous and hopeful thought before I was swallowed by darkness was, _I wish we could transport to 'Naruto World'._

* * *

**A/N2:** Yes people, you've guessed it, this is one of _those_ fics. Yes, I am aware it's been done and re-done many, many times before, but the idea simply would not work any other way. What can I do? I'm a slave to my own mind. :) Thankfully it gets better in the upcoming chapters, or at least I hope you'll agree with me.

Please let me know what you think! 'Till next time…

Peace out!


	3. Shocking Revelations

**A/N: **Special thanks to Horizon Gus Watson, Novrier and Lover of Emotions for reviewing, as well as Nintendoman01 for all the alerts and favorites, you all made my day(s). I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. :)

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Shocking Revelations**

**Danny's POV**

The first thought on my conscious mind was, _Who turned on the Sun?_ Gibberish, really, but I was still half-asleep. I specifically remembered, however, that Dy and I had closed the curtains before passing out, so why was I being awoken by bright light? I couldn't even open my eyes properly, and the growing headache wasn't helping. My back was uncharacteristically killing me, as if I'd slept on rocks the whole night, although it wouldn't have surprised me if I'd rolled off the bed at some point. And if all that wasn't slightly strange then the unmistakable sound of birds chirping happily took the cake. We'd definitely closed the windows previously, so how could I possibly hear birds? None of this made much sense.

Despite all the questions my mind had decided to torture me with first thing in the morning, it took me a lot of energy and self-convincing to finally force my eyes open. That turned out to be a mistake as the aforementioned bright light blinded me instantly. I smacked a hand over my eyes protectively, letting out a groan as my headache flared. Grumbling under my breath, I slowly sat up, wincing at the pain in my back. Dropping my hand from my eyes and snapping them open angrily, I opened my mouth to curse the heavens for putting me through so much pain so early in the morning, but stopped abruptly. All the complaints died on my dry lips as I took in my surroundings.

All grogginess and anger vanished, replaced by shock and disbelief. I could have sworn I was dreaming, if the whole scenery before me wasn't far too vivid to be the product of my wild imagination. I could call myself an artistic soul, but this amount of green was beyond my creative capability. All I could see were trees – big, strong, green-leaved trees. The Sun was high up in the clear blue sky. I glanced down and saw that I was sitting on grass-covered ground, littered with sticks and stones of various sizes.

I blinked, hoping that would dispel whatever hallucination I was having, but it changed nothing. I was still surrounded by trees, sitting on grass and dirt, and listening to birds sing around me. If I were in any other situation, the whole scene would have been rather beautiful and I definitely would have enjoyed it. However, at that particular moment, it took all self-control I had not to freak out.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, before looking around me carefully. It didn't take me long to spot my sleeping best friend. She was sprawled out on the ground a few feet to my left, oblivious to the weirdness around her. I smiled slightly at her sleeping position, letting out a breath of relief. _At least I'm not alone in this madness._

Hesitantly I stretched my arm out, shaking her shoulder slightly. "Dy?" I whispered, eying the forest around us suspiciously. Who knew what could jump out, even in broad daylight? When she didn't even twitch, I grew annoyed. "Dianna?" Nothing. I sighed, realizing there was no escaping it.

"Can I eat the last cookie?" I said loudly. The reaction was instant.

"NO!" My best friend screamed bloody murder, jolting up into a sitting position, her eyes wide open and her arms outstretched before her. I couldn't contain the laughter even if I'd wanted to. That never got old. It took her a moment to realize what had occurred and just as expected, she turned to glare at me.

"Dude, you should've seen your face!" I exclaimed between giggles, holding my stomach. And that line never got old either.

"I told you never to do that again," she said darkly, clearly displeased with my behavior.

"Sorry, Dy," I said once I'd calmed down, "but that was the easiest way to wake you up, as this is quite an emergency."

"What could possibly be such an emergency that you'd have to wake me u-"

"Exactly." Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as she took in our surroundings slowly, probably still half-asleep. If her expression was anything to go by, she was just as shocked as I was.

"What…in the name of Kami…?" She trailed off, as her eyes continued to shift from one tree to the next, from the grass we were sitting on to the Sun that shined brightly high above our heads.

"Don't freak out," I said slowly, drawing her gaze to me. She stared at me with a completely bewildered expression on her face. "I have no idea what's going on, but we'll figure it out." I pushed myself to my bare feet, cursing as jagged pebbles cut into my skin, before brushing the dirt off my baby blue shorts. "But as long as we're here, wherever _here_ is, we might as well explore and try to figure this whole thing out."

Dy jumped up to her feet quickly, panic filling her sky blue eyes. "But- wait, where are we? How did we get here? Actually, don't answer that, I don't even want to know. What I want to know is how the Hell are we going to _get back_?!" She stopped abruptly in the middle of her panicked rant to whirl around in place, her eyes flying over all the trees frantically.

"What if we can never get back home?" The desperation in her voice made her sound completely hopeless and it showed me just how scared she actually was. Her eyes were watering slightly and I couldn't stop the reality of the situation from hitting me. My vision started to get blurry as my heart beat frantically in my chest. I blinked off the tears before they could fall. At least one of us had to stay level-headed.

I placed a hand on her shoulder gently. "It'll all be fine, Dy, I promise," I assured her, smiling when I felt her relax slightly.

She frowned suddenly, her gaze far away. "Am-am I dreaming?"

"Nope, you're definitely not dreaming, 'cause I know I'm not a pigment of your imagination, thank you very much." I wasn't entirely sure where I found the humor in this situation, but it was always one of my ways of dealing with problems, or rather, trying to ignore them. Dy smiled slightly at my comment, but her smile disappeared all too quickly. "The thought that this is all a dream crossed my mind as well, but this is just way too vivid not to be real. Plus, my back hurts from sleeping on the ground." I chuckled despite the confusion and unease I was feeling.

"Maybe your back just hurts because you've fallen on the floor some time during the night," Dy argued, refusing to accept the idea of this whole place – this whole situation – being real.

"Oh, and are you a pigment of my imagination, then?" I inquired with a small roll of my eyes.

"No," she replied defiantly.

"Then how would you know if I've rolled off my bed?"

"Well…"

"We're obviously both real, and since no one can share a dream, that only leaves one option," I concluded, putting my hand on her shoulder.

Dy sighed, "You have a point."

"Of course I do! Have you forgotten who you're speaking with? I always have a point!" I exclaimed, a grin forming on my face.

She laughed and shook her head, "Yeah, okay, whatever helps you sleep at night."

Sometime during out pointless arguing, I caught sight of something interesting. "Hey, Dy, look at that," I said, pointing behind her. Through all the tree branches there was a barely visible dirt path. "What do you think, should we follow the trail of breadcrumbs?"

My best friend turned towards me, raising her eyebrow and snorting at my words. "That doesn't even make sense, Dobe."

"Sure it does, Teme" I replied casually, waving off her skeptical look. But I knew she was only deflecting, because she was uncertain. She didn't know what to expect. We knew next to nothing about our situation, yet we couldn't just stand in one spot and hope everything would just go away. I knew she was aware of that as well, she was just hesitating. Unfortunately, we had no other choice.

"Look, I know. You're scared. So am I. But we'll be fine. Everything is going to be fine," I assured her. "The most important thing is that we're together. As long as that's the case, we can beat anything that's thrown at us!" I gave her one of my wide, toothy grins and soon enough she was smiling, too.

"Okay," she said weakly. "You're right."

"Well, now that that's settled, let's get going," I said even as I made my way towards the path, wincing now and again as stray pebbles dug into my bare feet. I heard Dianna sigh, but follow right after me. "And besides, I'm getting kinda hungry and food ain't gonna drop from the sky." I managed to get a small chuckle out of my best friend and smiled at the sound. _I hope we'll stumble upon a candy house soon, I'm dying for some chocolate..._

* * *

**A/N2:** This is still all just the beginning, but everything gets interesting from the next chapter. Your thoughts? :)


	4. Dreams Do Come True

**A/N:** As usual, I'd like to thank all those who reviewed (you know who you are), you have no idea how much you helped! :) I'd temporarily lost inspiration to work on this story, but you've motivated me to not give up. In that name, here's a longer chapter! Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 3**

**Dreams Do Come True**

**Danny's POV**

I've always detested cold, windy, icy days which winter always brought, which is exactly why I could be considered a summer-lover. I simply love said season, beyond all others, not only because there's no school during summer, or at least the better part of it, but because the wonderful, overall cheerful season, usually brings warm and sunny weather. However, as Dy and I had been walking for half a day, with not a drop of water or food, nor any semblance of a decent rest, and all that under the blazing hot rays of the ruthless sun, I was seriously beginning to wish for winter to roll around the corner – if there was any among the thousands of trees we'd passed.

We'd been following the same dirt path for what felt like hours, but couldn't have possibly been more than three, otherwise we would have already starved long ago. Every tree was starting to look exactly like the last and I was starting to feel dizzy from the lack of any water. There wasn't a single sign of a river, or lake, or even a pond. Hell, we would've been satisfied with a puddle at that point.

We'd stopped speaking about half an hour into the journey (that was when we still had some sense of time – before the heat started burning off our nerve cells), so as to not dry our throats any more than they already were. Besides the drought that took a firm hold of our exhausted bodies, we were both also troubled by dark thoughts. I could read the concern off of Dy's face easily and I knew it mirrored my own. We were both painfully aware there was no positive side to our predicament. We were starving, thirsty out of our minds, broke, with no extra cloths but the pitiful items we had on and there was no one to help us. It all seemed quite grim.

We really don't have luck, don't you think?

However just as we were both reaching our breaking points, if the tears in Dianna's eyes and the lump in my throat were anything to go by, something caught our attention. In the distance, just beyond the numerous trees surrounding us, something stood out – something massive and made out of stone. From where we stood, it looked like a rock was sticking out behind the trees, but it was far too well-shaped to have been created by nature. The edge we could see was straight and wide. Dianna and I shared a skeptical look, but hurried forward none the less. If there was even the slightest chance at a change of scenery, we were both glad to take it.

Surprisingly, it didn't take us long to reach the anomaly and once we could see it properly, we both stopped dead in our tracks, staring with wide eyes and mouths agape.

"Uh, Dy?" I croaked out my first words in hours. I was surprised I'd managed to stay quiet so long. "Do you see this?"

"Uh-huh," was her only response, as she stared before her in puzzlement and wonder. Right in front of us stood a massive doorway marked by a set of huge green, wooden gates, connected to stone walls on each side which stretched out for miles – as far as we could tell, and we really had no intention to confirm that suspicion. The gate was open, but we were still too far from it to see inside. Right above the doorway was a stone arch with symbols carved in, suspiciously familiar symbols…

Absentmindedly, we slowed down a little, observing the scene in front of us as the gate became bigger and bigger, and we got nearer and nearer. The closer we got to the gate, the more I got the feeling of familiarity, the more details I recognized. There was something about it… I was almost certain I'd seen it before somewhere. Dy obviously felt the same way, because as soon as the thought crossed my mind she said, "Is it just me, or have I seen that gate before?" I simply shrugged since I was too busy trying to figure out why all of this suddenly seemed uncannily familiar. There were also red symbols painted on the doors – they reminded me of Japanese or Chinese writing, I never really knew the difference. The feeling of familiarity was so strong, yet my mind seemed completely frozen. No matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn't break through the strange block that formed in my memories.

Since curiosity was a flaw, if you considered it that, which both Dy and I had, we didn't stop at the gate. Instead of that, we were determined to go in, like there was some invisible force pulling us towards the centre of that strange place.

We were almost through the gate when two men literally appeared right in front of us, seemingly out of nowhere, and if I might say, scared the living daylights out of us.

They were both taller than us – though not by much – and looked to be a few years older. One had straight brown hair that reached his chin and a navy blue bandana on his head – pirate style, though less 'scary' so to say; unless you count Captain Jack Sparrow who can't really be considered scary. The other man had spiky black hair that seemed to break all laws of gravity, and a single bandage that covered his nose and disappeared behind his ears. And of course, they were incredibly cute, but that wasn't really important at that moment, because something else had my mind completely occupied.

The previous unpleasant feeling of my stomach turning from the uncanny feeling of familiarity grew tenfold when my eyes landed on the green vests they were both wearing. And not just _any_ green vests. Green vests with the high, thick collar and the square pockets, along with the navy blue, long-sleeved shirts that were almost always worn under it.

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. Those were freaking _chuunin_ _vests_! As in _ninja_ _clothing_! As in _NARUTO_!

Both panic and happiness washed over me as my brain tried to find some logical explanation, but there was none.

It was impossible.

_No. No. This could _not_ be happening. Ridiculous._

I glanced behind the two men and saw a town. I lifted my gaze higher hesitantly and sure enough, there it was. The legendary Hokage Monument. The faces of the previous and the current Hokage all carved into the mountain. I felt my eyes widen to the size of basketballs, and a glance at Dianna told me she had come to the same conclusion as me and was just as shocked.

"State the nature of your business in Konohagakure," the black haired man whom I now recognized as Hagane Kotetsu said. I was too stunned to speak, too confused and just outright lost that the only thing I could do was stare at them. It took me a lot of concentration to merely keep my jaw from hitting the floor.

"Don't be so jumpy Kotetsu. These two aren't even ninja. They're civilians," the brown haired man said calmly with a small smile. Something about that statement made me snap out of my daze. I scoffed and narrowed my eyes at none other than Kotetsu's best friend and long-term teammate, Kamizuki Izumo.

Without really thinking, I put my hands on my hips and said, "And how do you know I'm not a ninja? I could be concealing my chakra from you." A gust of wind made me shiver and I glanced down, remembering I was only wearing shorts. Suddenly becoming very self-conscious, I dropped my arms from my hips and crossed them over my chest. "I could also be using a Transformation technique to look like some ordinary civilian girl," I added with just a bit less spite.

I glanced at Dy who was staring at me and I could just tell she was barely resisting the urge to hit me. Returning my gaze back to the two chūnin, I noticed Kotetsu smirking and Izumo looking at me skeptically. I held his gaze, not wanting to admit he was right, but man, was he persistent. After a moment I dropped my head, finally admitting defeat.

"Okay fine!" I said with a huff. "We're not ninja." I pouted slightly.

Dianna chuckled quietly beside me and Kotetsu joined her. "You're funny kid," he said, patting my head like a child's. Izumo cleared his throat and tried to look like he meant business, but the faint smile on his face said he was amused. I was about to protest that I'm not a 'kid', but Dianna spoke before I could.

"To confirm your earlier statement, yes, we are civilians. My name is Kishimoto Mikaru and this is my sister…" She paused, motioning to me with her hand. I was staring at her, not completely aware that she was introducing us and that I had to say a name before they suspected we were lying. And clearly she didn't know it since we never actually had the chance to coordinate, but oh well. I simply said the first name that came to mind.

"Maia. Kishimoto Maia. Nice to meet ya!" I was quiet a little longer than necessary, but I was hoping they didn't notice. The last thing we needed was their suspicion.

"I'm Kamizuki Izumo and this is Hagane Kotetsu," Izumo introduced with a polite smile, while pointing at his best friend. Ha! As if we didn't know that already. After all, we've always been fond of the two sleepy gate keepers. Too bad they didn't know that, and never could know. So I nodded my head while Dianna returned the smile.

Now that all of this was starting to sink in, I was starting to feel happy, excited and just a tad hyperactive. At first it was really too unbelievable that we've actually ended up in 'Naruto', but I've long since ruled out the 'hallucination' and 'dream' explanations. Now, all we could do was go with the flow. I mean, we have a rare chance to be ninja! Who could pass up that opportunity? Dy and I had always fantasized about what we could do if we were given a chance like this. And now that we apparently have been given said chance, I wanted to literally jump up and down from joy. But, as every nice moment, this one too had to come to the first of the many obstacles.

"So, what are you two doing here? You're obviously not from the Leaf, since we would've recognized you," Kotetsu said, repeating his first question.

"Yeah, what are two young civilian girls such as yourselves doing wandering around anyway?" Izumo added and I resisted the urge to face-palm. _Crap. _I was hoping they'd forget about that question, at least until we could figure something out. Well, we were screwed.

I glanced at my best friend – and apparently 'sister'? - and I could practically see the wheels turning in her brain as she tried to think of a plausible story. Usually, in situations such as this one, Dy would be the one to come up with a fast and useful excuse. Well, in this case it wasn't just an excuse. It had to be a whole story. If we were planning on staying in Konoha and actually learning the art of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and Kami knows how many more skills, we had to think of a good reason why we were civilians, with no parental escort and intending on staying in a foreign village. And then it hit me.

I'd written a story once in which the main character was in a similar position as Dy and I were in now. Therefore, I decided it would be best to just use the story I'd already come up with once. With a few tweaks, that is. Thankfully, Dy had read it, so we would both be clued in. Thank God we both had enough knowledge of 'Naruto' world to improvise. I was just hoping, for both our sakes, we had good enough acting skills.

I put on my best 'sad face' and started explaining with a strained voice. "We…we used to live in a nearby camp. You see, our parents were travelers so we moved around often. Two…two days ago, Mikaru and I went to find some fresh water and we…we took a bit longer because we wanted to pick some flowers for our mom." I paused, pretending it was hard for me to breath. My head was lowered, wanting to give the impression I was hiding tears, so I couldn't see Dianna, but I was hoping she'd caught on by now.

"By the time we got back, we heard screaming coming from our camp." Apparently she did in fact catch on, because she took over for me. She, too, put on a mask of sadness and despair. Man, we're the best actresses ever! "We hid in the bushes and watched as…as our parents were killed."

I raised my head, having succeeded in bringing some tears to my eyes and looked at the faces of our first two acquaintances in this world. Izumo looked sympathetic, his eyes sad while Kotetsu looked downright shocked. "They- But you- How could…?" Kotetsu struggled to form a coherent sentence.

For a second I felt bad for lying to them, especially using such an awful story as a false background, but I was painfully aware (even if I was trying my hardest to ignore the knowledge) that we had no other choice. If we were to stay alive in this world, we needed to learn how to deceive people. How else would anyone ever trust us? We couldn't exactly tell anyone that we came from another world and that we knew almost everything about this one, including (probably) what had yet to happen, depending on _when_ we'd arrived in the timeline. Ninjas weren't very trusting people to begin with…

"Who murdered your family?" Izumo asked, breaking me out of my gloomy thoughts. He was obviously better at processing such information than his partner.

"We didn't exactly see," Dianna answered, acting as though she sobered up now. "We assumed it was the doing of some bandits. They stole all our belongings."

The two chuunin nodded, their expressions neutral, but their eyes revealed their inner turmoil. I thought it was really sweet that they cared so much, even though they were trying not to show it. Had I not watched as much Naruto as I had, I probably would have thought they were impassive, that they couldn't care less, but thankfully, all those hours upon hours were well spent after all. Although I doubted we would have been able to read anyone of higher rank that easily. I loved Izumo and Kotetsu, but they weren't as well trained as all the jonin senseis we knew.

"We came to Konohagakure because we want to become ninja," I said before they could even ask. Now that statement surprised them further, and if I read their tensing up correctly, it also made them a bit uneasy. But then again, it could have just be my imagination. Izumo frowned, a questioning look in his eyes, so I explained. "We lost our parents, our only family. And we hate the fact that there was nothing we could do to help them. We want to be able to protect each other at least." I was surprised at the intensity in my own voice. I was actually thinking about all the unfair deaths in the manga and anime. So many lives didn't have to be lost.

"Plus," Dy added, "we're kind of broke and in desperate need for clothes, food and a place to sleep." Wow, we sounded really poor now that it was said aloud. Thank Kami we were close to Konoha, because we would've starved if we hadn't been. We observed our first acquaintances in this new world carefully, almost pleading with our eyes. I felt my lips turn into a pout, but didn't wipe it off my face. Maybe it would actually work. I was, after all, famous for my pout and puppy eyes.

After a long moment that seemed to last an eternity – mostly because I kept repeating in my mind, 'Please let us be ninja' over and over – Izumo and Kotetsu glanced at each other before sharing a brief nod. Wow, Dy and I did that a lot too, those silent conversations, I mean. It was always fun to hear people say, 'Hey, how do you do that?' I guess we'd just known each other so long that we always knew what the other was thinking.

With a sigh, Izumo said, "We need to take you to the Hokage first. She'll decide whether you can become ninja, or not. But other than that, I'm sure she'll find you some accommodations in no time." I let out a breath and pumped my fist into the air, grinning victoriously.

"Yay!" I more or less yelled, causing Dy to roll her eyes and smack me in the back of my head.

"Shut it, Dobe."

Now that I felt like a huge pressure was lifted off my back, I could relax, even slightly. I stuck my tongue out at her childishly. "You shut it, Teme!" Ah, and there it was – our never-ending bickering. It was inevitable, really. Whenever I would do or say something 'stupid', Dianna would call me a 'Dobe' and in return I would call her a 'Teme'. It was the same when she did something annoying. It was one of the quirks we picked up in Naruto.

Before we could go on insulting each other any longer, Kotetsu interrupted us. "Izumo will take you to the Hokage, while I stay here to guard the gate."

"What?" Izumo suddenly said, turning to his best friend. "Don't pretend you're so dedicated! You only want to stay here so you can sleep!"

"Well…" Kotetsu grinned, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Izumo only glared at him and I couldn't keep in the laughter. They were even cuter in person. "Fine," Izumo said finally after a short staring contest. He turned back towards us, smiling warmly. "Follow me," he said as he turned towards the village. We glanced at each other, identical grins forming on our lips at the mere thought of exploring Konoha and eventually meeting our favorite characters. We waved at a very satisfied-looking Kotetsu before hurrying after Izumo.

_Konoha, here we come!_


End file.
